VZCZCXRO6217
RR RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHLZ
DE RUEHRL #1381/01 3061343
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 021343Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY BERLIN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5650
INFO RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE
RUEHBS/AMEMBASSY BRUSSELS 1694
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 0406
RUEHFR/AMEMBASSY PARIS 0924
RUEHRO/AMEMBASSY ROME 2434
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 1449
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 0626
RHMFIUU/HQ USAFE RAMSTEIN AB GE
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE//J5 DIRECTORATE (MC)//
RHMFISS/CDRUSAREUR HEIDELBERG GE
RUKAAKC/UDITDUSAREUR HEIDELBERG GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BERLIN 001381 
 
STATE FOR INR/R/MR, EUR/PAPD, EUR/PPA, EUR/CE, INR/EUC, INR/P, 
SECDEF FOR USDP/ISA/DSAA, DIA FOR DC-4A 
 
VIENNA FOR CSBM, CSCE, PAA 
 
"PERISHABLE INFORMATION -- DO NOT SERVICE" 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.0. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC KMDR KPAO KGHG GM US AF XF
SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION: GERMAN CHANCELLOR IN THE US, CLIMATE, 
MIDEAST, AFGHANISTAN ELECTIONS;BERLIN 
 
¶1.   Lead Stories Summary 
¶2.   US-Germany/Climate 
¶3.   Afghan Presidential Elections 
¶4.   Secretary Clinton in the Mideast 
 
¶1.   Lead Stories 
 
Primetime evening newscasts and many newspapers led with stories on 
Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah's decision not to participate 
in the runoff elections.  Several newspapers opened with the German 
debate over a tax reform.  Editorials focused on Afghanistan, tax 
cuts and healthcare issues. 
 
¶2.   US-Germany/Climate Protection 
 
Tagesspiegel remarked in an editorial: "A rule of smart foreign 
policy says that you should not ask too much from your allies.  You 
achieve little if the partner can't meet the request, but it is a 
burden for the work climate.  No politician likes to be made a fool 
of.  On Tuesday, Merkel will address the Congress, which is an honor 
only one chancellor had before: Konrad Adenauer in May 1957.  In her 
weekly 
podcast, Merkel raised the expectation among Germans that she would 
make climate protection the top priority of her speech and push the 
U.S. to make substantial commitments at the climate conference in 
Copenhagen.  However, Merkel is a smart woman.  She knows the rules 
and will follow them.  She will not be a lecturer.  U.S. politicians 
are also not repeatedly demanding that Germany deploy more soldiers 
to 
Afghanistan.  They would like to see this, but they also know that 
their desire would not be fulfilled.  So why should we ask for the 
impossible?  Merkel understands that the Congress will not pass a 
climate protection bill before Copenhagen and that President 
Obama-if he attends-cannot sign binding commitments on reducing 
greenhouse gases that would not be supported by the Congress. 
Merkel will rather deliver a speech praising U.S.-German relations 
and, prior to the 20th 
anniversary of the fall of the wall, will express gratitude to the 
U.S. for having been the only western ally that unqualifiedly 
supported German unity....  So why was the message of her podcast 
different?  It was a message for her audience at home where she is 
defending her reputation as climate chancellor." 
 
Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung editorialized: "For over 50 years, 
no German chancellor enjoyed the honor of addressing the U.S. 
Congress.  The expectations of what Merkel will say tomorrow, and 
the way she will say it, are enormous.  The host can assume that 
Merkel will acknowledge the U.S. contribution to German unity from 
her specifically East German point of view.  The global community 
has 
something else in mind.  Given the small number of good European 
leaders-Berlusconi has become a megalomaniac, Brown is 
insignificant, and Sarkozy repeatedly promises more than he can 
deliver-all hopes are pinned on Merkel.  A few weeks prior to the 
climate summit in Copenhagen, the community of greenhouse gas 
reducers is searching for 
ways to strengthen Barack Obama's position.  He really wants to make 
ambitious steps towards climate protection, and Merkel's audience, 
the Congress, is acting as a brake.  If the Chancellor can end this 
blockade, her second term would begin with a triumph.  However, this 
will require a great speech." 
 
Regional Schwaebische Zeitung remarked: "Merkel should use the 
opportunity of addressing both houses of the Congress to deliver a 
great speech as an ambitious basis for daily business.  The 
chancellor should tell U.S. politicians her own story and encourage 
them to support global cooperation.  Obama stands behind her." 
 
 
BERLIN 00001381  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶3.   Afghan Presidential Elections 
 
Under the headline "A joke of an election," Sueddeutsche commented: 
"Many Afghans believed that they had a presidential election without 
any choice concerning the question of who should run the country 
over the next five years....  The worst fears of voters have not 
just become reality but were exceeded:  As Abdullah boycotts the 
elections, the people can chose exactly one person-President Karzai. 
 The election in Afghanistan has turned from a difficult vote into a 
fiasco.  The public now see the third act of a sad play....  Eight 
years after the ousting of the Taliban, the people now have an 
election without any choice.  This is a bitter result for a country 
that urgently needs a success." 
 
Frankfurter Rundschau opined: "The plan to build a new state has 
proven to be useless for Afghanistan.  It was not the right one for 
what the country was and for what international experts wanted it to 
become.  Abdullah's decision to quit is undermining the reputation 
of the war in Afghanistan being a just cause, which some people 
still believed.  The debate in Germany over the question of why 
Germans are still 
participating in the mission is overdue." 
 
Berliner Zeitung noted: "Up to 100,000 foreign soldiers and 
thousands of Afghan police forces are now supposed to risk their 
lives for a runoff election that offers no choice.  It could not be 
more absurd.  The radical Taliban militias are right to laugh their 
heads off." 
 
Frankfurter Allgemeine remarked in a front-page editorial: 
"President Karzai, who did not enjoy a good reputation before the 
elections, has further lost authority.  His country is politically 
paralyzed.  It now looks as if Karzai is finally undermined...  The 
reputation of the international community, which described fair 
presidential elections as an important step to stabilize 
Afghanistan, has also suffered.  However, the UN soon realized that 
the elections were neither fair nor 
democratic but broadly manipulated.  The hope was that the runoff 
elections could repair the damage and reestablish respect. 
Abdullah's decision to quit the runoff destroyed these plans." 
 
¶4.   Secretary Clinton in the Mideast 
 
Under the headline "A new try with an old recipe," Sueddeutsche 
editorialized: "Hillary Clinton has taken her time to visit Israel. 
Mideast visions were the President's matter and Mideast envoy 
Mitchell took care of the daily business.  The Secretary of State 
now landed in 
Jerusalem-pretty roughly on the bottom of the ladder.  It was her 
job to communicate that America's new try would be with an old 
recipe.  The U.S., which so far still tried to make clear that it 
would powerfully engage in the deadlocked peace process, has now 
become a petitioner again who wants to convince both sides of the 
beauty new peace negotiations would have.  This is based on a 
painful pragmatic 
understanding: Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu feels strong enough 
to simply ignore the pressure and Palestinian President Abbas is so 
weak that any more pressure on him would strengthen radical forces. 
What does America 
do....?  It leaves the Mideast negotiations to its own devices. 
This became clear in the settlement question.  The Secretary quashed 
President Obama's demand of a settlement freeze." 
 
Under the headline "The U.S. ignores the Palestinian interests," 
Berliner Zeitung analyzed: "The U.S. government under Barack Obama 
wanted to revive the Mideast peace process as quickly as possible 
and force a compromise.  Still last month, Obama announced that the 
U.S. would double its engagement.  However, a short statement of 
 
BERLIN 00001381  003 OF 003 
 
 
U.S. Secretary Clinton during her stopover in Israel made clear that 
no U.S. President has failed with his peace efforts so quickly and 
dramatically.   Clinton explained that a settlement freeze is no 
longer a precondition for the U.S. to start peace negotiations 
because Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu is already making important 
concessions....  You could not tell Palestinians more rudely that 
their opinions, desires and fears don't matter....  This is not a 
change of strategy by the U.S. but the beginning of a farce.... 
Negotiations matter, not the goal.   And if the Palestinians reject 
this, the Israeli government representatives can say again that the 
Palestinians are the problem." 
 
 DELAWIE